Downturn may be short lived

Photo / Doug Sherring

The latest QV E-Valuer report shows home values plateaued and in some cases dropped across many Auckland suburbs in the final quarter of last year.

Of particular note was that 35 out of 36 North Shore suburbs saw a decrease in average prices between October and January. This easing in the market coincided with the introduction of new measures to curb investor activity in Auckland, so it looks as if the new rules have definitely helped achieve the desired impact of slowing the rate of growth in the super city housing market.

Over the past month, activity in the market has started to pick up again and there is also a much higher number of homes for sale now. It appears values may now be starting to edge up again -- but are not yet back to levels seen last year.

So those selling may find they do not get quite as much as they might have expected to get six months ago.

Interestingly the E-Valuer quarterly report shows some suburbs bucked the downward trend and continued to see values increase in the final quarter of last year. This includes Auckland Central, which has the highest concentration of apartments of any suburb in the city. Here values rose 3 per cent in the final quarter of 2015 and the average E-Valuer there is now $434,600; Eden Terrace rose 2.6 per cent to $556,550 over the same period, as did Newmarket where values rose 2.5 per cent to $667,950.

These figures reflect the fact the apartment market remains strong and apartment values are continuing to rise due to high demand for these properties, which offer some of the city's most affordable centrally located housing.

Rodney District suburbs on the Northern fringe of the Super City, such as Orewa, Silverdale, Snells Beach, Arkles Bay, Army Bay, Stanmore Bay, Red Beach, Omaha, Manly, Warkworth, Wellsford and Helensville have also bucked the trend and values there are continuing to rise at a faster rate than many other parts of the city. Values there have been slower to rise to the same levels above the previous peak of 2007 (currently only around 40 per cent higher compared to the Auckland regional average of 70 per cent above 2007 levels) so the area is popular with buyers who are now looking further out to get more bang for their buck.

It's likely the downturn in values may be short-lived now that activity is picking up and the market drivers of low interest rates, strong net migration and a housing shortage in Auckland remain.